Every time I sit down to write, I pray that God will guide my words and allow what I say to help inspire others. Today is no different than any other day, except today I am asking for more than help in directing my fingers across the keyboard.

Todd DeHaven, who became widely known and appreciated throughout the county as the longtime writer of the popular weekly "Animal Talk" column in The Greeneville Sun, died early Friday morning at Johnson City Medical Center.

When I originally wrote this story, I looked upon it as a small story. But as fate would have it, this little story might have far greater ramifications than I could have ever imagined. I am rerunning part of the column to refresh your memory or perhaps introduce it to you for the first time.

When I saw that my column would fall on Valentine’s Day, I wanted to write about the origins of the day. That was until I started researching it. It is a long, twisted tale involving the Roman Empire and a beheading, and to be honest, I lost my interest in learning about it.

It is hard to believe that it has been two years since I started writing this column. Boy, time has flown by! I have shared lots of personal stories about events in my life and have loved every minute of it.